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In dialog with the curatorial direction taken by the SESC Arts Showcase 2012, IMAGEM-CONTATO: mostra de imagem em movimento (TACTILE IMAGE: a moving images showcase) proposes to approach the materiality and the handcraft in the art of moving images.

The concept of materiality was amplified to beyond the material – materiality in cinema and video as a knot of tension and contact. Tension between the experience of perceiving the projected image and its bidimensionality, and seeing through it as if we are looking at a hypothetical reality. The elected artworks distance themselves from the aesthetic of mimesis and representation, towards an opaque, transformed, manipulated, constructed image, with open structures and explicit processes; the image that asserts its presence and invites the spectator to a tactile, physical, sensorial relationship; to the contact.

TACTILE IMAGE brings to several SESC venues located in the city of São Paulo over 200 art films and videos from various parts of Brazil and the world, since classical pieces – such as ʻTangoʼ [1980] by Zbigniew Rybczynski and ʻNeighboursʼ [1952] by Norman McLaren, both recipients of the Oscar for Best Short Film, ʻDimensions of Dialogueʼ [1983] by Jan Švankmajer, winner of the Golden Bear, and ʻGlobal Grooveʼ [1973], seminal video by Nam June Paik – to very recent works by celebrated and emerging contemporary artists.

The program includes mini-retrospectives by the pioneers artists Nam June Paik, Norman McLaren, Zbigniew Rybczynski, Gunvor Nelson, Stan Brakhage and Jan Švankmajer; a selection of works by other prominent artists, such as Bill Viola, Gary Hill and Pipilotti Rist; and programs that search to map contemporary tendencies within the proposed theme. Six Hans Op de Beeckʼs works, the Reynold Reynoldsʼ trilogy and two animations by Jochen Kuhn are some of the highlights; as well as pieces by the Asian artists Cao Fei, Jamsen Law, Eunjung Hwang and Junebum Park, never seen before in Brazil.

Concerning the Brazilian artists present in TACTILE IMAGE, Lucas Bambozzi, Carlosmagno Rodrigues, Dellani Lima and Arthur Tuoto show their most recent production, while Cao Guimarães, Gisela Motta & Leandro Lima, Fernando Velazquez and Rachel Rosalen, among others, exhibit works already known by the São Paulo audience – works that are well worth being appreciated again and again.

The curating tried to take into account the diversity of the artistsʼ approaches in relation to the strategies of creation, techniques, materials and media, embracing the multiple and hybrid character of the moving images art. The exhibition also assumes this characteristic in the varied way it presents the works, exploring the plurality of the audience experience. Thus there will be programmed projections in 35mm and 16mm as well as in video in the SESC venues, while an itinerary container presenting looped programs will be placed in 3 different locations in public spaces of the city. In addition, the SESCTV will broadcast 15 videos a day during the eventʼs 11 days.

TACTILE IMAGE aims to raise a reflection about the moving image, whilst promoting a closer relationship between the audience and this art still so little known by the general public. SESC, through the SESC Arts Showcase 2012, creates the opportunity of breaking barriers and producing a situation of direct involvement between viewers and artworks.

Kika Nicolela is a Brazilian artist, filmmaker and independent curator. Her works include single-channel videos, installations, performances and photography. Graduated in Film and Video by the University of Sao Paulo, Kika Nicolela was the recipient of several grants and has participated of over 100 solo and group exhibitions in Austria, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and US. Her videos have been screened and awarded in festivals of more than 30 countries, such as: Kunst Film Biennale, Bilbao International Film Festival, Milan International Film Festival, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Japan Media Arts Festival, Videoformes New Media & Video Art Festival and São Paulo International Film Festival.

She has been the main curator of the festivals Experimenta! (Campinas, Brazil, 2010) and Cine Design (Recife, Brazil, 2010); Nicolela also curated screenings for the Directors Lounge (Berlin, Germany, 2011) and the Alucine Toronto Latino Media Festival (Toronto, Canada, 2009). From 2008 to 2011 Kika Nicolela curated and coordinated the Exquisite Corpse Video Project, an ongoing collaborative series of videos that involved more than 70 artists from 25 countries. She is also a founding member of the Traffic Jam, a project that promotes the making of new video work in different urban settings through a collaborative creation process among a group of international artists.

Director of VIDEOFORMES, International Video art and Digital Culture Festival in Clermont-Ferrand since 1986, and the Videoformes Digital Archive. Editor of Turbulences Video (video art and Digital Culture quarterly magazine), curator for the Galerie de lʼart du temps (Time based arts gallery). Participates in many national and international events as curator or jury member. Teaches at ʻUniversité Blaise Pascalʼ, ClermontFerrand.